Today is January 8th, the 30th birthday of Kim Jong-un, North Korea's most powerful basketball enthusiast. Happy birthday big guy! North Korean news blog NKNews.org has taken the opportunity to introduce us to some of the ways in which brave North Korean people have been mocking Kim Jong-un in days leading up to his birthday. Apparently they're not super enthralled with the festivities, which have included such delights as "Street-Cleaning for the Leader's Birthday." Also, "compulsory apple-picking days"—the North Korean equivalent of a Chuck E. Cheese party.

the people of the North have found a way to inject a little humour into the routine. January 8th is pronounced in Korean as ‘ilpal' (one-eight). But the Korean word for eighteen, ‘sippal', happens to be a homophone of the swear-word ‘f**king'. Pyongyang residents have decided to take advantage of this pun. They are referring to Kim Jong-un's birthday as the ‘f**king birthday celebrations', and compulsory apple-picking days as ‘f**king Apple-Picking Days'.

Among some groups of trusted friends, it goes further than that: Kim Jong-un is referred to as ‘f**king comrade', ‘f**king Marshal or ‘f**king Kim the Third'.

So it's not exactly Will Ferrell's George W. Bush impression. But it's not bad for a country where punishment can be meted out brutally and arbitrarily for even the smallest slight to the Supreme Commander.